Here I am.
Social media has its complexities, with comparison, imposter syndrome, FOMO, and anxiety. However, for me, I find that these feelings diminish when I'm actively creating and sharing.
The notion of starting a blog always appealed to me, but the timing never felt quite right. I remember attending a workshop (called blogshop) with the intention of enhancing my content creation skills for my floral design business. That weekend left me incredibly inspired and well— wishing I had a blog! That was circa 2013! Fast forward to the present, and it feels almost absurd that I never took that step. I also can’t really say why. Maybe it was my relentless pursuit of perfection and consistency, an apprehension around criticism, or my unease at how people would perceive me if I was a “content creator.” There was certainly a fear of not being successful- whatever that means.
Recently, I took an unplanned hiatus from social media, finding myself in a creative rut. The break allowed for easier decision-making, a clearer voice, and the freedom to reflect, dream, plan, and manifest. Social media has its complexities, with comparison, imposter syndrome, FOMO, and anxiety. However, for me, I find that these feelings diminish when I'm actively creating and sharing.
So here I am. Taking a leap and starting something I have wanted to start since 2014! I’ll be sharing on instagram and here- on my blog! I even have some TikTok plans too.
So how do you start a blog? You can read all About Me but here’s a bit more depth if you don’t know me already:
I grew up in a small town in California. My parents divorced early but I had so many formative experiences with each of them. We loved traveling and California day trips. A good chunk of my childhood was also spent running free with other children in our neighborhood. My junior year in high school, I moved to Michigan. I was actually ready to leave my small town CA town and I still adore that quaint midwest town outside a “big city”. My high school experience in Michigan was so positive. I did theatre, ate out for lunch, and I know all my friends appreciated my wholesome love for snow!
I stayed in Michigan for undergrad studying Psychology and Writing. I always knew I wanted to be back in California so I returned for graduate school to study School Psychology. After graduating, I worked three years as a full time School Psychologist in the Bay Area. I met my now husband and we found the sweetest apartment in San Francisco. We made so memories and had the best time living in that city. It still feels like it’s ours. However, at work, I very quickly faced burnout and creative withdrawals.
Ultimately, this lead me to start a my floral design business. I seriously considered studying graphic or interior design but another degree didn’t seem like the best option (LOL). As a florist, my experiences were diverse, from working on the fanciest weddings in California's wine country to parallel parking a cargo van on SF’s busy streets— and driving another one down Highway 1 along Northern California's rugged coast. There was so much female bonding and beautiful conversations on long rides. That work was therapy for me and is such a big part of who I am now.
Meanwhile, my husband and I started our family, left San Francisco for Marin (blip), and did our best to carry on in our careers and raise our children. You can have it all…. right? Fast forward to the pandemic, without work, I suddenly found myself a stay at home parent. My husband and I had been having conversations about slowing our pace and looking for something/somewhere we could live more sustainably. At the same time, our rental home was being sold which felt like an invitation to find something, somewhere. We travelled California, stayed on the Central Coast for two years, and never really did decide on a place. In the years since the pandemic, my path has meandered, I haven’t had a plan which, as an enneagram one, has been a struggle. But now I know, this is the plan: Get comfortable without clarity, trust myself, speak and listen to my intuition.
As for our move to Portland, it came out of the search for something/somewhere to live more sustainably. If I’m honest it doesn’t always feel the way I thought it would. California has always been my home and it became a part of who our family was. But if I listen to my intuition, I do know it’s the right place for our family right now and we are supposed to be here. And nothing has taught me to: get comfortable without clarity, trust myself, speak and listen to my intuition than the experiences we’ve had moving to and living in Portland. So I’m living to plan, right? Right.
Now for the fun. I'm an Enneagram 1 (refiner) with a strong 9 wing (peacekeeper). When I take the quiz I am mistyped as 3 because achievement is my way of refining but it’s wrong ;). I’m an MG and I don’t know too much about that. But the archetype of starting, building, stopping, and starting anew deeply resonates with me. I'm also a Leo sun, but my Enneagram types don’t want me to have an ego, so I’m constantly navigating the shadow side of that sign while refining my self-expression. So there you have it, a little about me. Here I am…
